We took Emily to lunch at a restaurant one afternoon last week and I jokingly said she had to pay. When she said she didn’t have enough money to pay, Claire said, “well I guess you’ll have to wash dishes.” Emily had absolutely no idea what that meant. When we were younger, and went out to eat, is was a common expression if someone didn’t have enough money to pay their bill, that they’d have to wash dishes to “earn” their meal.
Well, I hadn’t thought about it for a long time, but I don’t remember when I’d heard that expression before Claire used it last week. Of course, that got me to thinking… There are a lot of phrases or expressions that you just don’t hear anymore. I remember my parents and grandparents saying things that, at least at first, didn’t make much sense to me but over time i grew to understand what they were saying or at least what they meant.
Here’s some things I remember hearing pretty often in the past, that I haven’r heard in a long time. A lot of them I never figured out what they meant, but some made sense over time.
I remember my grandparents saying things like: Last time I saw you, you were knee high to a grasshopper; Land’o Goshen; Heaven to Betsy and Great Day in the Morning a lot. Some other popular “things from the past” I haven’t heard lately include….
Cute as a Button; Here’s mud in your eye; Twenty-three Skidoo; The cat’s pajama’s; Sweet as Molasses; Raining cats and dogs; Believe you me; Now we’re cooking with gas; Let’s skedaddle outta here; The proof is in the pudding and Tarnation! What the Sam Hill?
Another saying you don’t hear much today — Close the door, were you born in a barn? And then there’s Drunker than a hoot owl and Three sheets to the wind; Don’t count your chickens before they hatch; We’ve hit pay dirt; Aww, Jeemineez; Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle; Phony as a three dollar bill; and Sitting on pins and needles.
I also remember waiting Till the cows come home; Three shakes of a lamb’s tail; Bats in the belfry; Indian giver: Haven’t seen hide nor hair of him; Not worth a plug nickel; Don’t have a conniption fit; Bet your bottom dollar; Hubba Hubba; Ain’t just whistling Dixie; and Knock on wood.
And before you can say Jack Robinson, I thought of A fine kettle of fish; Two birds of a feather flock together; Gets my goat; Kill two birds with one stone; Buy a pig in a poke; Sharp as a tack; Quick as a wink; More than one way to skin a cat; Keeping up with the Joneses; Thin as a rail; In cahoots; Couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn; and Living high on the hog.
I’m sure I could think of more, but it “just goes to show” how much our language has changed. I admit I don’t know what some of these saying really mean, but if I made a list of the popular terms and expressions popular today, I wouldn’t know what most of them mean.
After thinking about it, I forgot a couple of terms that should be on my list of things you don’t hear too much anymore — Please and Thank You…..
— 30 —